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Girl Time: Calling Moms and Daughters... Looking to plan a date with your daughter?
by Rebecca Klein
How about some mother-daughter bonding over high tea, a sweet treat, and a craft. The deal is sweetened when you hear the price — free.
Barnes & Noble at the Inner Harbor hosts a monthly American Girl event for mothers, daughters, and dolls in its children’s department. All the activities are inspired by the doll company’s product line, which also includes books and craft kits.
Nuri Pentangelo, assistant store manager and a mother-to-be, wanted to give mothers and daughters a chance to spend special time together and to bring Baltimore girls, ages 3 and up, a taste of the American Girl company offers girls.
“They’re going to carry these memories on for the rest of their lives,” she says. “You can’t put a price on that. It’s free. You don’t need to put a price on it, which I think is even more wonderful.”
Participants also receive a recipe to take home. “I wanted something for them to do together when they got home,” explains Pentangelo. “I’m worried that in this day and age we don’t take enough time to do very simple things like making a sugar cookie together.”
When girls participate for the first time, they have the opportunity to pose with their dolls for pictures to be posted at upcoming events. The company’s dolls represent diverse cultures, backgrounds, and time periods; their stories are also featured in book series. The Kit doll, who grew up during the Great Depression, is the leading character in a feature film out this summer. American Girl also publishes guidebooks on money, careers, manners, and more.
At AmericanGirl.com, you’ll find free interactive activities including printable images for scrapbooks and other crafts, printouts for book club invitations, guides to start a business, and quizzes — such as one that asks, “How earth friendly are you?”
To maximize participation at the Barnes & Noble American Girl sessions, each month’s event runs on a Friday afternoon and again the next morning. The September event will be on September 19, 2008 at 4:30 pm and September 20, 2008 at 10:30 am. Reservations are required. To sign up, email Nuri Pentangelo at girlclub2881@hotmail.com.
Have your daughter send us an email at info@ModernBabiesAndChildren.com to tell us why she enjoyed the event, and we will enter her into a give-a-way for an American Girl book or craft kit provided by the company.
